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Madame Sun Lin Hoo
Sandy McSouthers is the doorman at Sunset Towers. He’s presented as one of Sam Westing’s 16 potential heirs, though he is secretly an alias of Westing. A kindly ex-boxer with a chipped tooth and a sunny demeanor, Sandy is paired with Judge Ford for the duration of the Westing game. Sandy’s warmth and silliness ingratiate him to all the residents of Sunset Towers—especially Turtle Wexler—though Ford is the only one to piece together the truth about his identity before the final reading of the will and the conclusion of the Westing Game. Omnipresent yet unassuming, Sandy McSouthers is the perfect disguise for Westing throughout the duration of his own game: by becoming Sandy, Westing is able to participate in his own game, intimately observe its players, and steer things in the direction he wants them to take when red herrings (misleading clues) or dead ends threaten to throw the whole enterprise off course.
Alexander “Sandy” McSouthers Quotes in The Westing Game
The The Westing Game quotes below are all either spoken by Alexander “Sandy” McSouthers or refer to Alexander “Sandy” McSouthers. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 3 Quotes
"What do you mean his corpse is rotting on an Oriental rug, some kind of Persian rug, maybe a Chinese rug." Mr. Hoo joined his son at the glass sidewall of the fifth-floor restaurant.
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Chapter 21 Quotes
“Violet was a few years younger than I, doll-like and delicate. She was not allowed to play with other children. Especially the skinny, long-legged, black daughter of the servants."
"Gee, you must have been lonely, Judge, having nobody to play with."
"I played with Sam Westing—chess. Hour after hour I sat staring down at that chessboard. He lectured me, he insulted me, and he won every game."
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Chapter 26 Quotes
The estate is at the crossroads. The heir who wins the windfall will be the one who finds the
FOURTH.
That's it, that has to be it: The heir who wins the windfall will be the one who finds the fourth! Windy Windkloppel took four names, and [Turtle] knew who the fourth one was!
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Chapter 30 Quotes
Julian R. Eastman was dead; and with him died Windy Windkloppel, Samuel W. Westing, Barney Northrup, and Sandy McSouthers. And with him died a little of Turtle.
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"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Alexander “Sandy” McSouthers Character Timeline in The Westing Game
The timeline below shows where the character Alexander “Sandy” McSouthers appears in The Westing Game. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
On Halloween, four people stand in the Sunset Towers driveway. Sandy McSouthers, the doorman, stands with high-school seniors Theo Theodorakis and Doug Hoo and the sixty-two-year-old...
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Sandy suggests that the smoke is the work of delinquent kids from Westingtown. Exactly one year...
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Chapter 3
As Judge J.J. Ford’s red Mercedes swings into the Sunset Towers driveway, Sandy opens the car door for her with ceremony and points out the smoke coming from...
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Downstairs, Sydelle Pulaski struggles out of a taxi. Sandy is driving a red Mercedes to the parking lot—he is never there, Sydelle thinks, when...
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Chapter 4
...people were in the Westing house last night: Doug Hoo, Theo Theodorakis, Otis Amber, and Sandy. She sets out to find them and collect her $24.
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Chapter 5
...and sits with Turtle. Otis Amber arrives next, followed by Doug Hoo and Mr. Hoo. Sandy arrives, then the Theodorakis boys. Chris grows excited when he spots snow falling outside, and...
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Chapter 7
...Deere protests having to give medical advice to the invalid Chris. Chris, though, is excited. Sandy McSouthers is paired with Judge Ford. Grace is paired with Mr. Hoo. Berthe Erica Crow...
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...the words on her clue sheet, insisting they remind her of a “minstrel show dialect.” Sandy, however, begs her not to quit—he needs the money. Ford reluctantly agrees to stay in...
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Chapter 8
...office; Madame Hoo, who has no clue about the game, stands alone in the restaurant. Sandy is home and Deere is at the hospital, working. Otis and Crow are nowhere to...
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Chapter 12
...together at a party. The judge now knows of four heirs with Westing connections—Hoo, Theodorakis, Sandy (who was fired from the Westing paper mill for trying to unionize), and herself. She...
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Chapter 14
Sandy returns a tip Ford gives him as he brings her car around—she has given him...
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Ford is impressed with Sandy’s work, but she points out that the clues ought to point to just one suspect—not...
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...the Beautiful.” Denton comes out of the elevator and hurries Angela from the lobby, past Sandy, who whistles the song as the couple walks out.
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Chapter 15
...The coffee shop is full, but Shin Hoo’s is empty. Ford goes to work and Sandy mans the door. Flora spends her day at the broker’s office charting stocks—at the end...
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Turtle, Sandy, Doug, Theo, and Otis stand outside Sunset Towers looking at the Westing manor—no smoke has...
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...she was the one who found Westing’s corpse. He pulls her braid and runs away. Sandy restrains her from chasing and kicking him. Otis pedals away, insisting that there is no...
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Ford returns to Sunset Towers and makes a plan with Sandy to interrogate George and Hoo separately. They plan on ordering from the café tonight and...
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As Sandy and Ford puzzle over the picture, Sandy wonders what the connection is between Angela, who...
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Chapter 16
...them, every heir is suspicious of the other. Mr. Hoo suspects Flora and Jake suspects Sandy. Chris wonders if Ford is “one of those Black Panthers in disguise.” The captain calls...
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Chapter 17
Sandy buys a notebook to begin keeping track of all the private investigator’s reports, which are...
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Chapter 18
Down in 4D, Sandy continues compiling dossiers. In his file on Flora Baumbach, he notes that her husband left...
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Back at Ford’s apartment, Sandy reads to her three dossiers. Otis Amber is, at 62, a delivery boy with a...
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Chapter 19
Sandy reads to Ford from Crow’s dossier file. It states that she was raised by a...
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Sandy and Ford are still compiling their dossiers, gathering information on the Wexlers. Sandy adds to...
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Chapter 20
Ford and Sandy continue placing orders from the coffee shop until George Theodorakis himself delivers their order. When...
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As Ford and Sandy puzzle over why Westing involved Chris and Theo but not George or Catherine in the...
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Chapter 21
Ford and Sandy have nearly completed their dossiers. The only files left are their own. Sandy finishes his,...
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...some and sends her on her way. Turtle heads for Flora’s apartment but runs into Sandy in the hall. Smelling alcohol, Sandy asks Turtle jokingly if she’s hitting the bottle. When...
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Chapter 22
...unimpressed by the dentures in a glass cabinet on the wall—she thinks they’re poorly made. Sandy’s dentist, however, explains that the imperfections are what make the false teeth look real. As...
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Sandy returns to Ford’s apartment to deliver some sad news. He says that Barney Northrup has...
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Chapter 23
The heirs continue to arrive and take their seats at the small tables. Sandy and Chris compliment Turtle’s haircut. Judge Ford arrives dressed in traditional African clothes—she wears a...
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...“$11,587.50.” Chris and Denton offer the answer “Mr. Westing was a good man.” Ford and Sandy do not provide an answer. Grace and Hoo offer “Plum” as their answer. Grace drunkenly...
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...the refreshments. Crow, fearful, rises from her seat and heads into the kitchen. Ford asks Sandy to accompany her. As they enter the kitchen, Sandy passes his flask to Crow and...
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Chapter 24
...song are missing from the clues—one of his clues, he says, is the word AMERICA. Sandy drinks from his flask, coughs, and suggests that everyone hand their clues over to Sydelle...
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Ford turns to her partner and begins to address him. As she does, Sandy’s hand flies to his throat. His face turns red and he falls to the floor,...
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Chapter 25
...remaining heirs sit in Ford’s living room wondering what has happened. With Crow arrested and Sandy dead, the heirs are shocked, upset, and confused. The heirs are divided: some feel bad...
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Theo reveals that Sandy was the one who knew how to play chess—Sandy was about to make his last...
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...that today, the 15th, is Crow’s birthday. Turtle looks up from the will, remembering that Sandy asked her for a striped candle for his wife’s birthday earlier. The game, she realizes,...
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Chapter 26
As Turtle continues questioning Otis, he reveals that he never investigated the man known as Sandy McSouthers for any of his three clients. He also reveals that Sandy was the one...
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...could have been. She asks him if he has a diagnosis for the cause of Sandy’s death. Denton says he suspects a heart attack. Turtle says that she saw Crow put...
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...no longer has it—all she has is a receipt which totals out her “payment” to Sandy in return for the amount owed for her education.
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...will was read. She believes that Westing disguised himself as one of his own heirs: Sandy. She reveals that Sandy was drinking medicine out of his flask. Westing was never murdered—his...
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Turtle stops talking. Ford waits for her to make the connection between Sandy and Northrup for everyone, but Turtle doesn’t say anything. She privately puzzles over why Westing...
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Chapter 27
...happily states that the police have declared her innocent. Plum says that the coroner determined Sandy died of a heart attack, as did Mr. Westing—Theo states that the coroner, Sikes, was...
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...answer is. The first three of the “four winds” are Sam Westing, Barney Northrup, and Sandy McSouthers—now, as she pulls up to the mansion of the chairman of the board of...
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Chapter 30
...he is nearing the end of his life rapidly. T.R. tells him, addressing him as Sandy, that even if he dies in front of her, she won’t believe he’s dead.
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When Eastman dies, with him die Windy Windkloppel, Sam Westing, Barney Northrup, and Sandy McSouthers. No one ever learns T.R.’s secret—and so a little bit of her dies with...
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